Stories and tidbits about the history of Upper (Present Day) California and Lower (Baja) California. The men – and women – who carved civilization out of wilderness.

Father Serra - Missionary

Always forward, never back

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Pedro Fages Returns

When last we wrote of this man, he was
being replaced as lieutenant governor of Upper California by Fernando
Rivera. After more than a bit of acrimony between the two, Fages
boarded the packet ship, San Antonio, sailing July 7th,
1777. He took thirteen of his Catalonian Volunteers, along with Padre
Gil who was to be the new store-keeper for San Diego. He went
there to retrieve some of what he called his personal property. He
then sailed from there on August 4th for San Blas
to rejoin the Company of Catalonian Volunteers.

Fages barely became established in
garrison in Guadalajara when he and his company were called to the
Sonora frontier to fight savages who attacked the missions and other
Spanish establishments there. During that five year period, he served
so well that he received a commission as a lieutenant colonel. He
successfully quelled the Quechan Yuman Indian independence revolt and
reopened the Colorado River ferry crossing at Yuma, Arizona.

Fages
married Eulalia Callis June 3, 1780 in Mexico City. She was born
October 4, 1758 in Barcelona, Spain and journeyed to Mexico City with
her mother and brother to join her father Agustín Callis, the
original captain of the Free Company of Volunteers of Catalonia.
Eulalia loved fashion and believed in charity.

Governor
Rivera was replaced by Governor de Neve who in turn was replaced by
Lieutenant Colonel Pedro Fages. Fages was the autonomous lieutenant
governor of Upper California, answering directly to the Commandant
General of the Provinces Internal and through him to the viceroy.

It's
not reported anywhere I can find what Father President Serra's
reaction was to having the man he got booted out back as the head
military honcho in Upper California. The President Guardian of the
missions had gained much when Fages was reassigned. Of all the
complaints he presented to the viceroy, almost every single one of
them was resolved by the viceroy's decrees. So, there wasn't much
Fages could to on those matters.

But,
he did manage to find as many ways as possible to thwart Father
Serra's goals. He put a great deal of effort to improve the
Reglamentos [Regulations] formulated by Governor de Neve and
approved by the viceroy. He also toiled to improve El Camino Real
and the presidios.

But,
his biggest advancement was the founding of El
Pueblo de Nuestra Señora de los Angeles de Porciuncula [some
claim the original name used the word “Reina” or Queen instead of
Our Lady] and El
Pueblo
de San José de Guadalupeor
The Town of Saint Joseph. These had both been assigned their
locations during Portolá's expedition and then conformed by Governor
de Neve. Even then, from the outset, neither town followed the strict
guidelines in Los
Reglamentos.
And the settlers, or Pobladores,
didn't live up to expectations.

One
major thing Fages did was grant land to soldiers who had served well
and were seeking to retire with their families in California.

This
is not to say there were no disputes between Fages and Father Serra.
Truth be, they constantly argued over the treatment of Indians by the
soldiers, and there came a time when Father Serra became so upset
with Fages that he even wrote up a letter excommunicating Fages from
the church. That meant, according to the official creed of Spain,
that Fages could no longer hold office as governor. In reality, Fages
continued his duties, awaiting a response from Viceroy Martin
de Mayorga Ferrer, Captain General of Guatemala. In the end, Viceroy
Ferrer ordered Fages to stop what he was doing and seek absolution
from Father Serra.

Chapel
of Mission San
Buenaventura

Another
effort of Fages to thwart Serra was how he stopped Father Serra from
founding

Mission
Santa Barbára. Fages met Serra near Mission San Gabriel
and clearly stated their goal was to start Mission San
Bueneventura and the Presidio of Santa Barbára. Then,
when it was time for the group to start off, Fages was called away to
take care of a major problem. Father Serra's group set off and, on
March 29th, or 31st, depending upon which
source one uses, 1782, he blessed the site of the future Mission San
Buenaventura, assisted by Father Pedro Cambon. He did not wait
for Governor Fages to arrive, much to that worthy's anger.

But
Fages got his revenge. Instead of being able to found the mission,
Father Serra had to be content with blessing the site of the chapel
for El Presidio de Santa Bárbara.

Santa
Bárbara Chapel

Leaving
Fray
Cambon and a sergeant and fourteen men as an escolta
or guard for the new mission of San
Buenaventura, Governor
Felipe de Neve, Capitan Jose Francisco Ortega, Fr. Junipero Serra,
and thirty-six soldiers and their wives and children walked on to
Santa Bárbara
to found the Presidio
del SantaBárbara.

Realizing
he wasn't going to be allowed to start the mission, Father Serra sent
a message to Father Fuster at Mission San Juan Capistrano to
come to serve in the presidio chapel. He then returned to
Carmel. It appears the friar did not arrive, leaving the presidio
without a priest – another reason for Fages to complain to the
viceroy about Father Serra's lack of respect for the military.

I
don't mean to infer that Fages did not respect the goals of having a
string of missions from San Diego
to San Francisco. It
is simply that he felt defending California from Russia and the
growing American states was of greater importance. He tirelessly
traveled with his escolta
and sappers from one end of the province to the other, repairing
roads, building bridges, and everything else he could to improve
communications. He also tried to oversee the correct construction of
the pueblos and
presidio – extremely
difficult as he received little or no support from Mexico.

Governor
Fages was away from Monte Rey
in August of 1784 when Father President, Guardian of the Upper
California Missions, passed away. Little is known of his relationship
with the interim president/guardian, Father Palóu, a fellow
Mallorcan and
long-time close friend of Father Serra. However, Palóu did not stay
long due to ill-health, and was replaced by Father Fermin Lausén.

A side bar –
Father Palóu went to the Apostolic College of San Fernando where he
was appointed guardian. He was thus the superior to the president
guardian of the California missions. If differences arose between
Fages and Lausén, all the latter had to do was pass that on to
Father Palóu who had direct access to the Archbishop of Mexico and
the viceroy.

Father
Lausén moved from San Diego
to Mission San Carlos
early in 1785, just about the time Fages' wife, Doña
Eulalia de Callis, arrived with her son from Loreto. Every report
indicates she was a caring women who went to far as to give clothing
to the “poor Indians” - most likely in a condescending matter,
normal for the time and place.

But,
her arrival created a most stressful time for Fages. Especially when
Doña
Eulalia discovered her husband had an Indians mistress! She kicked
him out of the house and her bed. She went to Father Lausén to
complain of her husband's unfaithfulness and demanded he be penalized
for doing so. The earnest President Guardian of the Missions tried to
counsel her – to no avail. This break seemed to last a full year
but the two managed to reconcile.

With
orders from the viceroy and supplies arrived from Mexico, Fages was
there with Father Lausén for the founding of two more missions;
Mission Santa Bárbara and Mission
La
Purísima Concepción.

During
his last year as governor, Fages constantly complained of ill-health
and the lack of support from Mexico and Spain. He wrote a number of
letters seeking to be granted retirement. From
August 1786, by General Ugarte's order of Feb. 12th, Fages became
inspector of presidios
– he
was ordered to straighten out the records and finances, a most
difficult task.
His commission as colonel was dated Feb. 7, 1789.
His retirement was granted in 1791 and he sailed from Monte
Rey
in the autumn of that year.

He
took with him, the Catalonian Volunteers brought to California when
Spain closed its fort located on what is now Vancouver Island. The
eighty had been spread between the four presidios, the reason
why he stopped at Santa Bárbara and San Diego.

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Welcome!

I'm starting this blog to share some of the things I've learned while conducting research for Father Serra's Legacy. The first two novels should be released in 2012 and maybe even the third.In any case, I hope you all enjoy reading these as much as I did learning about them.As always, comments recommended.